Congo Bongo (1985)

Congo Bongo (1985)

Game No.	308
Voting	6.87 points, 15 votes
Company	Sega
Publisher	US Gold
HVSC-File	GAMES/A-F/ Congo_Bongo_version_2.sid
Release	1985
Platform	C64
Genre	Arcade, Platformer (Single Screen)
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation	or
Media
Language
Information	Forerunner: Congo Bongo (1983)

Description[edit | edit source]

In Congo Bongo you take over the role of a jungle hunter who tries to catch a Gorilla named "Congo". In each of the four levels there are numerous perils between you and Congo in the shape of abysses, torrential rivers, falling coconuts, monkeys gone wild, snakes, scorpions and rhinos. But hippos, huge piranhas and floating lily leaves will help in crossing the rivers and also monkeys that have taken a seat on your back can be shaken off again . . .

Design[edit | edit source]

Level 1: Primate Peak[edit | edit source]

Primate Peak

In the first level you climb a steep rock wall, cross torrential rivers and fight with a horde of monkeys gone wild, which try to push you from the cliff. At the very top sits "Congo Bongo", obviously a mean relative of "Donkey Kong". It also throws things down on you. But this time no barrels, but coconuts that do not hurt any less. When you have reached the summit of the hill, the game continues with the second level.

Level 2: Snake Lake[edit | edit source]

Snake Lake

At the famous "Snake Lake" you fight your way from island (platform) to island, between aggressive scorpions and hungry snakes. The latter start the chase over the narrow paths with which the islands are connected as soon as you have entered one of them. If you have managed to avoid them successfully you can rescue yourself by jumping onto the back of a hippo to get to the other side. But beware! The hippo will dip its head under water in irregular intervals, so always stand on its back. Then you go on to level 3.

Level 3: Rhino Ridge[edit | edit source]

Rhino Ridge

Here you should avoid the deadly puddles and go out of the attacking rhino’s paths. Either you jump over them or hide from them in one of the holes. But you should not spend too much time in them, because a mole-like creature appears in certain intervals randomly in a hole and fills it up. And if you are in this hole at that moment, this will cost you a life. When you have made it to pass the rhino herd, you climb on the hill where Congo is. Moving on to Level 4.

Level 4: Lazy Lagoon[edit | edit source]

Lazy Lagoon

In this level, heavily inspired by Frogger our gorilla hunter fights on the back of swimming lily leaves, hippos and piranhas his way through the lagoon. Hardly have you arrived at the other side of the dangerous river, you will be pestered by a rhino gone wild. When you have sneaked past it, you only have to climb the small rock ledge and you have defeated the insidious gorilla. After a short loading time, the game starts again at level 1 with the next higher difficulty grade.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls[edit | edit source]

In the title screen
1 for 1 player
2 for 2 players (in turns)
J for joystick (both players use the same joystick in port#2)
K for keyboard

in the game
The character follows the joystick movement.
Press fire button to jump.

Score[edit | edit source]

Dependent on the difficulty grade you get bonus points at the start of each scene which are lowered by each 100 points after a short time span until it reaches zero and the time has run out.

Difficulty grade 1 = 5000 bonus points
Difficulty grade 2 = 6000 bonus points
Difficulty grade 3 = 7000 bonus points
Difficulty grade 4 = 8000 bonus points
Difficulty grade 5 or higher = 9000 bonus points

You also get points for:

climbing the mountain steps = 10 points
jumping on a hippo, lily leave or piranha = 100 points
jumping over the crevice = 500 points

When you have earned 10.000 points, you get an extra life.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Done difficulty level 1... what an achievement ;)

Tips:

Level 1: At the beginning stay at the left on the stone steps. The monkeys can be shaken off by jumping.
Level 2: Start at the lower right. Lure the snakes to the upper left, then jump from the middle platform onto the hippo.
Level 3: Take the middle path.
Level 4: Only exact timing helps here

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.87 points at 15 votes (rank 489). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	7	27th November 2008 - "very good" - 4619 downs
Lemon64	6,2	27th November 2008 - 37 votes

Reviews[edit | edit source]

MrBug: "I liked this version better than the one from 1983, because it was closer to the arcade original. Which is all 4 levels with better graphics. Very well converted to the C64!"

H.T.W: "An interesting version. You find almost nothing (neither a cover nor a manual or a scan of the disk) on the web about this release of Congo Bongo. I would like to know if the game could be bought in this form or if it was a pre-version, etc. The playability of the single levels is ok and the graphics were strongly improved in contrast to the version from 1983. Also the two levels that are missing in the “old” version are converted well. Not that bad, this game..."

TheRyk: "Phew, slightly better graphics and definetely more elaborate and less terrible music than two years ago, four instead of only two screens at last. But the controls are almost as awful as in the 1983 version. Summing up, the 1985 version is minimally more playable, so I vote 4 points but do not regard this new release as worth being produced."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

In 1983 the game was released for the first time (see Congo Bongo (1983)). At that time with simpler graphics and only two levels of the arcade game (Level 1 (1983) = Level 1 (1985), Level 2 (1983) = Level 4 (1985). The game principle of the two comparable levels has approx. stayed the same.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

Congo Bongo (jap: Tip Top) is generally said to be Sega's answer to Nintendo's Donkey Kong, which was released two years before. The common features are hard to miss. In both games the protagonist fights against a monkey that throws around items while gesturing wildly, by jumping and climbing. And they also busily copied other successful games. So e.g. the level 4: Lazy Lagoon reminds a lot of Frogger, which was produced by Sega, but developed by Konami. Furthermore, Congo Bongo and Donkey Kong have with four levels the same number of levels and then start again from the beginning, of course not without rising the difficulty grade. The isometric alignment of the game area is already know from the game Zaxxon, which was also made by Sega (C64 Version: Synapse Software) and ran on the same hardware in the arcade machine. Although Congo Bongo did not really offer something new, aside from the isometric design which was at that time not used very often, it was very successful and was converted to numerous systems.